


Contractual Obligations

by betweentheheavesofstorm



Series: Keeping One's Word And Other Mistakes [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bodyguard, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Modern Westeros, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 14:51:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12061233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betweentheheavesofstorm/pseuds/betweentheheavesofstorm
Summary: Apparently, pretending to date your bodyguard to annoy your dad is a bad idea. Or a good one. It depends on where you're standing.





	Contractual Obligations

‘I think someone’s trying to kill me,’ Jaime announces, as soon as the door has closed behind them.

Brienne drops her handbag on the floor and sits on the bed to remove her shoes. Her feet have finally gone numb, which is a relief after the pain of the heels. As far as clothing goes, this is the worst job she’s ever taken.

‘I’m serious,’ he adds, when she doesn’t respond to his previous remark.

‘I’m not here as your bodyguard,’ she reminds him, standing up again to put her shoes away. He’s still standing just inside the door, loosening his tie and running a hand through the hair he’d so carefully arranged hours before.

‘Which is a shame, because you were really good at that.’

‘Are you unsatisfied with how I’m fulfilling my current assignment? Because I’m happy to leave at any point.’

‘No.’ He sits then, taking the spot she’s just vacated. ‘No, you’re doing fine.’

 _As fine as anyone can, when they’re having dinner with your family_. To be fair, Tyrion has been nothing but polite. He took the news that Jaime was dating his bodyguard surprisingly well. Cersei and Tywin, on the other hand, have been less than thrilled.

Which of course, is the effect Jaime’s going for. He could have just dyed his hair or got a tattoo or whatever regular people do to rebel. Instead, he’s doing all he can to make his father regret leaving the family business to him.

Brienne’s done what she could to suggest other options. She even offered to accompany him to a tattoo parlour, in case a hidden assassin was waiting to strike. But for some reason he wants to enact this farce and he’s paying her enough for her to go along with it. And it’s _Jaime._ Anyone else asking her to play at being their girlfriend would get either a sharp rebuke or a bloody nose. But Jaime – well, working with him is never boring and the food at the hotel is incredible.

‘By “someone” you may as well say your sister,’ she says, collapsing into one of the chairs. The bed was comfier, but he’s spread out on it now, having tossed his jacket aside.

‘Perhaps I should,’ he agrees. ‘I think Father’s angrier, but she’s worse at hiding it.’

‘She caught me in the bathroom.’ Brienne isn’t sure why she’s telling him this, only that she’s tired and he’s the only person who knows what’s going on. Well, him and Asha Greyjoy, but all of Asha’s suggestions regarding coping mechanisms have involved violence.

‘What?’ Jaime raises his head to look at her.

‘When I excused myself during dinner. Apparently she doesn’t know what I’ve done to you, only that she intends on finding out.’

‘She threatened you?’

‘That’s one way of putting it.’

‘Do I need to hire a bodyguard for my bodyguard?’

‘I’ll be fine.’ Cersei’s blustering isn’t alarming. Brienne has spent enough time with manipulative people to recognise what it is – the frantic efforts of someone who’s losing control.

Tywin, on the other hand, is a lot creepier. Given he’s the one who ordered Jaime to get a bodyguard in the first place (thanks to a bout of paranoia that someone would make an attempt on his heir) he’s more than capable of making sure she’s removed from his son’s life. After the dinners they’ve had, she wouldn’t be surprised if he’s making plans at the earliest convenience.

‘I mean it,’ Jaime says. ‘Lannisters are a determined family.’

‘Their strategies revolve around breaking us up,’ she reminds him. ‘And as there is no _us,_ they can drop all the hints they like.’

What she’s certainly not going to tell him is the direction the bathroom conversation took. After spelling out her certainty that Jaime wasn’t in the relationship by choice, Cersei smiled brightly and added she hoped they were using protection because she wasn’t ready for them to be sisters-in-law. Even though the whole idea relied on people assuming Brienne and Jaime were sleeping together, having it spelled out to her was … weird, to say the least.

(Not that the idea is completely inconceivable. On days when he’s not being an arsehole, she can see why people might find him attractive. He’s certainly good-looking, she won’t deny that. But it doesn’t matter because he _is_ an arsehole, and she is his bodyguard, and the closest they ever get is sharing the same bed to maintain their cover.)

‘We should get some sleep,’ she says. The chair is comfortable, but she manages to rise. ‘I’ll get changed in the bathroom.’

Jaime just nods. He’s still lying, spread-eagled, on their bed.

In the en-suite she changes into her pyjamas and takes off her makeup. That’s another part of this job she could live without. Before, nobody cared what she looked like, only that she kept Jaime safe. Or, well, they didn’t care as much. Now she’s got stylists following her around as Tywin attempts to model her into someone vaguely suitable enough to be seen on Jaime’s arm.

‘How should we do the breakup?’ she asks, returning to the bedroom. Mercifully, he’s completed his changing. She walked in on him shirtless the other day, and while she’s seen more scandalous things than a bare chest, it was still distracting.

‘What do you mean?’

‘You’re paying me till the end of the month.’ She gets into her side of the bed. The mattress is big enough for them to leave a neutral zone between them. ‘I assume we’re going to have a dramatic and terribly public breakup?’

‘This is what I meant when I said you’re good at this,’ he says, leaning up against his pillows. ‘You could go up and down the country ruining the reputations of eligible businessmen. Robb Stark, Oberyn Martell, the list is endless.’

‘Robb Stark is a child,’ she reminds him. ‘And there’s nothing I could do to Oberyn Martell’s reputation that he hasn’t already done.’

A smile quirks the edge of Jaime’s mouth. ‘Are you slutshaming him?’

‘Certainly not. He can have as much sex as he likes. I’m just contesting the idea that he’d want to publicise having sex with _me_.’

‘I don’t know, it’s done wonders for my character. People think I have depth now. Reporters won’t leave me alone.’

‘They never left you alone before. And you didn’t answer me. Have you got a breakup plan?’

‘There could be a pregnancy scare and ensuing scandal,’ he muses. ‘Or perhaps you were merely using me to get to the family money.’

‘I’ve got a reputation too.’ Her feet are cold, but she can’t be bothered to fetch socks. ‘Remember, my dad reads the tabloids.’

‘If he didn’t disown you for dating me, he surely can’t for almost having my child.’

‘It would worry him.’

‘What’s your suggestion?’

‘We have a fight in public. You’re always dismissive of my interests and I never call you back. The details don’t have to be sordid, we just have to yell loud enough.’

‘Then I’d have to fire you,’ he says. ‘And I can’t be bothered to teach someone else my coffee order.’

‘You could hire Bronn.’

‘Tyrion would never give him up. Besides, that would put me back on the bachelor market.’

Her stomach lurches. ‘You said this was just for a month.’

‘I wasn’t sure whether it would work at all.’

‘Nevertheless, I have a real life I want to return to. As things are I can barely see my friends, let alone have an actual dating life.’

‘I didn’t realise there was someone you wanted to date.’

The unsolicited dick pic that Hyle Hunt sent her flashes before her eyes. She pushes it away.

‘That’s not the point. I’m not about to put everything real on hold for this.’

‘And if I ask you to?’

The gap between them is only a few feet, and yet nothing that she says seems to reach him.

‘Jaime,’ she says, in the same voice she used when someone actually was trying to kill him, ‘I am not going to be your fake girlfriend after this month. It is a one time deal, that I have done _as a personal favour_ and because you are paying very well for it.’

She stares at him, forcing him to meet her eyes. He does for a moment and then wavers.

‘I’ll think about what we can do,’ he says, after a pause. ‘It will have to be convincing.’

‘Good.’ She moves to a lying position and turns out the bedside light. He does the same.

Even though she knows the exact amount of space between them, not being able to see it makes it shrink, somehow. He may as well be right beside her, warming the sheets next to her –

‘I didn’t think you’d say yes,’ he says, into the dark.

‘What?’

‘When I suggested this plan. I didn’t think you could be bought.’

‘My dad needs the money. He’s … he’s not well.’ She shouldn’t be telling him this either. He has no right to know.

‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

‘Thank you.’

‘I ought to compensate you for any and all abuse from the hands of my family,’ he adds.

‘I don’t want pity money.’

‘Then perhaps, due to your father’s ill health, we should cut this holiday short and pay him a visit.’

‘I don’t think – ’

‘I don’t have to come,’ he clarifies. ‘I’m capable of amusing myself.’

The idea of leaving the hotel and not having to deal with Cersei is definitely appealing.

‘Thank you, but no,’ she says. ‘I’m being paid to do a job and I intend to do it.’

‘Has anybody told you how frustratingly stubborn you are?’

‘You do, several times a day.’

It doesn’t look like she’s going to get to sleep any time soon, so she shuffles back up into a sitting position, her back against the headboard. It felt odd carrying out a conversation while lying flat on her back.

‘You might meet someone you genuinely want to date,’ she says. ‘That would solve the issue.’

‘Not the bodyguard problem. “Hi, it’s you I’m seeing, but my ex-girlfriend bodyguard will follow us everywhere.” It would put a slight damper on the relationship.’

‘Then I’ll go and work for Catelyn Stark. Since that accident with her younger son she’s been worried about them.’

‘Has she made you an offer?’

‘A couple of times.’

‘Why did you decline?’

‘I stick to the contracts I’ve signed.’

He moves, she can hear the rustling of the duvet, and then he’s right there. She can feel his breath, he’s crossed their little no man’s land and he’s –

Jaime’s mouth is warm on hers, impulsive and insistent. Her body betrays her brain and responds, parting her lips to deepen the kiss, allowing him to pull her closer. This is a mistake, they’re only pretending to like each other, but now that it’s happening she wants it, wants _him._ Her hands are acting of their own accord, tracing along his chest and curling around the back of his neck, anything to bring him nearer.

Something with a loud siren drives past their window. The noise is enough to jump-start Brienne’s brain. She recoils backwards, so quickly she nearly falls off the bed. Jaime kissed her. _Jaime_ wanted her. Cersei must have driven her mad, there’s no other explanation.

The sensible thing to do would be to turn on the light and demand what the hell he was doing, but the thought of discussing it – and her response – causes her face to heat up. No. Better leave it till morning, and perhaps they can forget all about it.

There’s the sound of more blanket shuffling, he’s probably returning to his part of the bed. She lies down carefully, on her side with her back to him. Her heart is still thumping away. She could flee to the bathroom and text Asha, but she would still have to return and that would mean facing him. Better to lie here and hope for sleep, even though the feeling of his mouth is playing over and over in her mind.

It’s going to be a long night.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been unproductive lately and wrote almost all of this last night. Needless to say, the end of the last series has left me with a lot of feelings about these two and so here we are. Yes, it's fake dating again. I have a type.
> 
> *edit: as I'm sure you've seen, this is the first part of a mini-series and the second part is available now*
> 
> Thank you to ao3 user wimtiff for translating this fic into Chinese! You can find the translation [here](https://www.weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404151523792809471&luicode=20000061&lfid=4151523795303407)
> 
> Feel free to say hi to me [on tumblr](http://www.betweentheheavesofstorm.tumblr.com) if you enjoyed it or have any questions. For more JB content, check out my other fic [The Spaces In Between](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4857680/chapters/11131808) (more fake dating, this time with spies.)


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